North of Here by Philip David Alexander

Author:Philip David Alexander
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Now or Never Publishing
Published: 2012-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

OBLIVIOUS DONNA

There was a knock at the door the day after I kissed Cal. I woke up frightened. It was a hard knock. I checked the time and I was dismayed to see I had overslept. My stomach dropped when I realized I should have been at the office. I was two hours late and thought that perhaps I should call in sick, but first there was the knock at the door to answer. Raymond probably hadn’t paid the paperboy. And I would tell the paperboy not to knock so hard; he needed to get our attention, not the entire neighbourhood’s.

Raymond was in the hallway, still in his pajamas, staring at the door. He glanced back at me and I gasped. His eye was black and purple and swollen underneath, right above his cheekbone.

“Raymond, what happened?”

“I thought you were working today,” he said. He checked the peephole in our front door and added, “Here we go.”

He opened the door slowly, as if he was dreading what waited on the other side. Detective Doyle was on our doorstep. It was raining outside and he wiped at his face like you’d wipe tears. He did not look happy. There was another policeman, one wearing a uniform, standing just behind Detective Doyle. The uniformed policeman was as wide as the freezer in our basement. He was at least six feet tall as well. He smiled at us and then turned a little switch on a radio that was hooked to his jacket. Raymond nodded and stepped back so they could come inside.

“What’s going on?” I said.

Raymond looked at me. He meant business. He was trying to control his temper—I could see that. His eye looked horrible and there was a speck of blood on his actual eyeball, and that worried me. I touched his face and he let me. He didn’t push my hand away.

“Hello, Ray. Hello, Donna,” said Detective Doyle. “This is Constable Burton.”

The giant policeman smiled again and removed his cap.

“So, Ray, you know why we’re here,” said Detective Doyle. He moved toward Raymond and looked at the injured eye. He became Larry just then. He grinned and said, “He landed a pretty good one, I have to say.”

“It was the only one he landed,” said Raymond.

Larry Doyle nodded and took out his little flip notebook.

“His face is a mess, Ray. He’s missing two teeth and one of them went right through his bottom lip. He has an actual hole in his lip. His ear is twice its usual size and he says it’s still ringing. His chin looks like a plum.”

“Will someone tell me what’s going on?” I said.

Larry Doyle’s mouth turned downwards. Constable Burton smiled again and looked out at the rain.

“Go ahead Ray,” said Larry Doyle.

“Don’t talk to me like that,” said Raymond.

“Like what?” said Larry Doyle. His face hardened then, and he was back to being Detective Doyle again.

Raymond exhaled and sat on the stairs. He looked ­exhausted.

“You shouldn’t have gone up there,” said Detective Doyle.

“You have no idea how tough it is,” said Raymond.

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